1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a kit for applying and a method of transferring a colored emblem to a T-shirt or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many exemplary heat transferable or pressure transferable decals for placing a color emblem on a fabric or other receptor sheet are illustrated in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,071,163 to Emmey discloses a transfer sheet 13 having colored areas 14, 15 thereon formed from a heat transferable wax. The heat transferable wax 14, 15 is applied to the transfer sheet 13 in a melted state at the time of manufacture of the transfer sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,217,270 to Gibbs and U.S. Pat. No. 2,688,579 to Meyer disclose other forms of precolored transfer sheets. The transfer sheets in these patents, like the transfer sheet of Emmey, are precolored at the time of manufacture of the transfer sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,073 to Warnberg and U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,123 to Simms disclose devices for transferring outlines of indicia to fabrics.
Each of the foregoing patents suffers from the disadvantage that they do not permit or encourage custom coloring of the design transferred to the fabric by the consumer.
At least one custom coloring procedure for applying color designs to T-shirts or other fabrics is known. In this procedure, fabric crayons are sold separately in combination with T-shirts, which have outlines of the designs applied thereto, and the consumer uses the fabric crayons to color directly on the fabric or the T-shirt. This method of coloring is totally unsatisfactory, since the flexibility of the fabric prevents smooth and fluid strokes and creates tension which prevents an even application of color from the crayons.
Another custom coloring procedure for transferring coloring designs to materials other than fabrics is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,912 to VanDuesen, which discloses transferring a pattern or outline to a receptor sheet and subsequently coloring the receptor sheet with a conventional felt tip pen. This is essentially the same procedure described above with respect to the custom coloring of T-shirts.
The transfer kits for applying colored emblems to a T-shirt or the like disclosed in each of the above-mentioned procedures suffer from disadvantages which are solved by the kit for applying, and method for transferring, colored emblems disclosed in the present invention. More particularly, the present invention sets forth a novel kit for applying colored emblems to a T-shirt or the like which includes a transfer sheet having an outlined pattern thereon and a plurality of selected colored crayons formed of a heat transferable material, such as colored wax. The method of transferring a colored emblem to a T-shirt or the like includes the steps of: applying the colored crayons to a transfer sheet within the outlined pattern; positioning the transfer sheet on a T-shirt or the like; and applying a heated instrument to the reverse side of the transfer sheet thereby transferring the colored emblem and the outlined pattern to the T-shirt or the like.
In another preferred embodiment, the transferable pattern is created from a manifold of a heat transfer sheet and a reversed or lift type copy sheet having a pressure transferable coating of heat transferable material thereon. By generating a pattern on the obverse face of the transfer sheet with the pressure of a drafting implement a heat transferable mirror image pattern is created on the reverse face thereof by pressure transfer which can then be applied to a T-shirt or other article by heat transfer. Different colors of transferable coatings on various copy sheets are manifolded with the heat transfer sheet to effectuate multi-colored heat transferable patterns on the rear surface of the transfer sheet.